Cyber Funerals

I thought this was an interesting article.  We published the audio for a service to the web in March for a service.  It was our most listened to audio file in the last 6 months. Perhaps with families spread through out the nation, this may be the way for families to be there in those moments when they can't

Sunday, Aug 24, 2008 @07:00am CST
Death is one of life's milestones rarely memorialized on camera.

"This is just as important an event in someone's life when we celebrate the life of someone," said funeral director Brain Calhoun.

The thing is, most people prefer to say goodbye in private.

"As a whole we're a very traditional industry," said Calhoun.

An industry that funeral director Brian Calhoun says, until recently has been influenced very little by technology.

"This is my feed from the camera. It takes about 30 seconds for the server to accept the incoming media," explained Calhoun.

Stuhr's funeral home is the first in South Carolina to offer families the option of a live funeral on the internet.

"To allow a family to have this as an archive in their family history. We give the link to the website only to the immediate family," said Calhoun.

He says the new feature does catch people off guard at first.

"I would really like to have my cousin Jeff at the service but he can't get off work to be here. When they really think through that it's interesting that several names start appearing," said Calhoun.

HT:  Big Country Home Page

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